Feeling like a failure.....

Ladies Ladies! Please do not fret I am a slow looser right from gate! I am down 58 pounds and on 8/5 before most of you! I am lucky if I loose 1 pound a week and that is from the second month out! I started at 294.5# and am at 236ish# I am 5"8" and have about 100# still to go! Just relax! I stressed and stressed and It didnt make me loose any faster! I try very hard to do everything right and exersize at curves ect. Put the pounds arent just fling off! I then thought sheesh people on weigh****chers and nutra system are loosing faster then me! But just banging my head aginst the wall didnt change a thing just stoped my head from hurting ) I finnaly turned it over to God ( you can use your higher power) and asked him to take it from me. Well guess what I feel a whole lot better now , I still am loosing at a snails pace but i trust in God and he will see to it the weight comes off and all of it! He didnt allow me this gift and not to have it work! I will pary for you too . Just trust! KIM

I read your post this morning and I sure can sympathize... I have been stuck on the same weight for a month... Beginning to wonder if I will ever get the scales to move again....Only 75 lbs lost in 5 months...I know that is a lot and that I could not have lost that without the surgery but I want to lose at least 75 more and would prefer a 100 more. I am doing all the things I should do except exercising enough.. And my arthrits and Fibromyalgia prevent that some days. Our local YMCA pool has been closed for over a year adn who knows if it will ever be repaired .. (but that is a whole other story) And the closest one is 15 miles and it is so hard to get there.... So I guess I am stuck trying to do the best I can exercising at home.... but the cold weather sure makes it hard to move somedays.... So I am counting the days till spring and a better chance to exercise better..... WE will make it..... Let's not give up or give in to depression!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Take care.... Sharon

Sounds like so many of us are in the same boat at this time of the year. I wonder if it's just a holiday "stall" thing or just normal for being this far out from surgery. I'm still in a 4-week plateau that's about to turn into a 5-week plateau, and all the exercise and low-calorie dieting in the world hasn't been able to shake me free of it! However, the upside is that I'm still fitting in my clothes....and some things in my new (interim) wardrobe are even too big. Just for fun the other day, I took a tape measure and held the measurement where my hips use to be. It seemed like a big, loose lasso around my hips! What fun to see that difference! Sure, I can see the pounds lost and I can feel the difference in clothes and all the other good things that go with it....but I still want to continue on my weight loss journey! I have so much more to lose, and I'm tired of this very long plateau! You're not a failure, and neither am I! We just have to continue to wait it out and keep doing the right things in order to reap the benefits of continued weight loss. It's hard being patient. My late father used to say, "Patience is a Virtue, Laura." He was right. Good luck! ~Laura

You are so not alone. I found out what my problem was and I am trying to work on it. I wasn't getting in enough water. When I felt hungry i'd eat something instead of trying to drink some water first. I felt hungry all the time but what I am realizing is that most of the time I feel hungry I am actually thirsty. Drinking the water really helps. I am also not getting in enough protein. I am going to buy some plain protein powder and try adding it to my hot breakfast etc. I made a commitment this week because my scale hasn't moved much since December. I was beginning to think I was done with the weight loss and only being a little over 4 monyths, that is scary to me. I thought I had a safe 6 months. Well since Sunday I have cut way down on my carbs, upped my water dramatically and tried getting in as much protein as I can and I have already dropped 4 pounds. To me that is huge because I have been going back and fourth with the same 2 pounds for a few weeks. I also go to the gym but let that lax a bit due to some deaths in my family over the holidays. I am back and doing an hour sometimes and hour and a half 4-5 times a week. As far as getting to that weight you want I think it is totally doable. In order to get there you need to lose 8.5 pounds. I think you can do it. One tip that I have is that I try to never live by a weight. My goals aren't weight goals. Mine are things like fitting into an outfit, or being able to wear my seatbelt, things like that. For myself, if I set a weight goal I am disappointed if I don't achieve it. In my past I have always done that to myself and then depression set's in when I didn't make it. So i've learned that hard lesson and I try to make my goals achieveable. I wish you all the best Shannon 363-235-170 -128#'s

You are so not alone. I found out what my problem was and I am trying to work on it. I wasn't getting in enough water. When I felt hungry i'd eat something instead of trying to drink some water first. I felt hungry all the time but what I am realizing is that most of the time I feel hungry I am actually thirsty. Drinking the water really helps. I am also not getting in enough protein. I am going to buy some plain protein powder and try adding it to my hot breakfast etc. I made a commitment this week because my scale hasn't moved much since December. I was beginning to think I was done with the weight loss and only being a little over 4 months, that is scary to me. I thought I had a safe 6 months. Well since Sunday I have cut way down on my carbs, upped my water dramatically and tried getting in as much protein as I can and I have already dropped 4 pounds. To me that is huge because I have been going back and fourth with the same 2 pounds for a few weeks. I also go to the gym but let that lax a bit due to some deaths in my family over the holidays. I am back and doing an hour sometimes and hour and a half 4-5 times a week. As far as getting to that weight you want I think it is totally doable. In order to get there you need to lose 8.5 pounds. I think you can do it. One tip that I have is that I try to never live by a weight. My goals aren't weight goals. Mine are things like fitting into an outfit, or being able to wear my seatbelt, things like that. For myself, if I set a weight goal I am disappointed if I don't achieve it. In my past I have always done that to myself and then depression set's in when I didn't make it. So i've learned that hard lesson and I try to make my goals achieveable. I wish you all the best Shannon 363-235-170 -128#'s

Hey people, We can't say we feel like failures! We are not! We had this surgery to be healthy. We didn't gain this weight over night and it won't come off over night. No matter if you have lost 40 or 80, that is ALOT since August. Just think what we would weigh if we didn't have the surgery!!!! Everyone needs to cheer up and be positive, I think alot of negative thinking ( and a few pizza's) is what got us in trouble in the first place. I have lost 50lbs and I am so proud of myself for having the nerve to have the surgery. My Dr. says this is not a miracle thing, But it is a very good tool. We all will make it. I just know it!!!!!!!!!

Lisa, I couldn't have said it any better myself. Thanks for being frank! We all need to hear that from time to time. ~Laura

My support group guru says that the best way to break a plateau is to do something different, like increase your water intake, change form of exercise, change the times you eat, just do something different, maybe that would help, Susan

I am in the same boat. Since Christmas I have only lost 3 pounds. And I did not over eat or indludge in Holiday goodies very much at all. I only had 3 pieces of my homemade candies, and left everything else alone. I get a lot of protein, and I drink lots of fluids. I guess I need more exercise. Tammy

I don't feel like a failure, but I'm experiencing the same thing with the stalled out weight loss. Looks like the majority of us are. I'm especially frustrated because the 2 lbs I keep bouncing up and down are just a couple of pounds from the 200 mark. Aaargh! I think it would have been psychologically easier to stall out at 199 than at 202! I always seem to stall right before some big milestone that I can't wait to reach. Very annoying! From what I understand, it is common to start hitting plateaus about now. Doesn't necessarily make it easier to deal with it to know that, but there it is. I still have 67 lbs to go to reach goal, and it feels like it's going to take FOREVER at this pace. All the veteran post-ops say it'll pick up again, though. They assure me I'm not done yet, and I have faith that they're right. I'm going to the gym more and trying to cut out the snacking I started over the holidays. I know I'm taking in fewer calories than it takes to maintain 202 lbs, so the math tells me I will start losing again. Hang in there! We're all in this boat with you. It would have sunk 5 months ago, but now it's staying afloat. ---- Leslie 5'3" 282/202/135